the Assassination of Arcbishop Romero 35 years on

In March, 1980, Oscar Arnulfo Romero was assassinated while saying mass.  Several weeks before he wrote to the then President of the united States, Jimmy Carter. Well, Jimmy Carter's response was interesting to say the least.  The response was mute; in other words there wasn't one.  What Carter did instead was an attempt to shut him up by the authority of the pope.  He need not of bothered because Carter's state sponsored terrorism in El Salvador, the country which Romero was native to, murdered the inspirational figure.  The letter he wrote to the U.S President in 1980 was a plea to stop sending arms to the death squads, many of which were trained in Georgia, America, what was then known as The School of the Americas.  In fact Roberto D' Aubuisson was responsible for the assassination, along with others.  D' Aubuisson just happens to have been one of those who was trained in America.  The letter, written in mid-February 1980 reads:

Dear Mr. President: In the last few days, news has appeared in the national press that worries me greatly. According to the reports, your government is studying the possibility of economic and military support and assistance to the present government junta. Because you are a Christian and because you have shown that you want to defend human rights, I venture to set forth for you my pastoral point of view in regard to this news and to make a specific request of you. I am very concerned by the news that the government of the United States is planning to further El Salvador’s arms race by sending military equipment and advisors to “train three Salvadoran battallions in logistics, communications, and intelligence.” If this information from the papers is correct, instead of favoring greater justice and peace in El Salvador, your government’s contribution will undoubtedly sharpen the injustice and the repression inflicted on the organized people, whose struggle has often been for respect for their most basic human rights. The present government junta and, especially, the armed forces and security forces have unfortunately not demonstrated their capacity to resolve in practice the nation’s serious political and structural problems.

17th March, 2015